Second Victorian prisoner contracts COVID-19
A second Victorian prisoner has tested positive to COVID-19, triggering panic over a potential outbreak within the prison system.
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A second prisoner has tested positive to COVID-19 as six Victorian prisons remain in lockdown.
Another prisoner at the Metropolitan Remand Centre has contracted the virus.
A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokeswoman said there is no connection between the latest positive test and other positive cases in the prison system.
“The prisoner was swabbed on 20 July 2020 as part of standard measures for all new receptions. There is no connection between this case and the previous positive case at Metropolitan Remand Centre (on 17 July 2020) or the prison officer at Ravenhall Correctional Centre,” she said.
The new infection has triggered panic over a potential outbreak in the prison system.
“This is going to go through the prisons like a bushfire,” a prison officer said.
Ravenhall Correctional Centre, Hopkins Correctional Centre, Langi Kal Kal, Barwon Prison, Fulham and Loddon remain in lockdown on Wednesday night after a Ravenhall prison officer tested positive to COVID-19.
Authorities are scrambling to trace his contacts to avoid further infections.
The lockdowns mean prisoners will be released sooner as they can get four days slashed from their sentence for each day in lockdown.
The department spokeswoman said there were measures in place for preventing and managing communicable diseases in custody.
Each prisoner is tested on arrival and spends 14 days in protective quarantine.
The state’s first prisoner case was recorded at Metropolitan Remand Centre last Friday.
The prisoner was tested for COVID-19 when admitted at Melbourne Assessment Prison on Monday and had been transferred to Metropolitan Remand Centre before his test came back positive.
The decision to move the prisoner before his test result was received was criticised by Opposition Corrections spokesman David Southwick.
“We know prisons can be hotbeds for COVID-19 and the movement of a positive inmate throughout the system is simply unacceptable,” he said.
A department spokeswoman said the prisoner was asymptomatic and that “those who present with any coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms or risk factors are turned away”.
The latest prisoner was also asymptomatic.
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